Musical toy or instrument



v Patented July 10, 1928.

Urrsn STATES MICHAEL J. MCIN'IYRE, OF EDEN CENTER, NEW YORK.

MUSICAL TOY. on INSTRUMENT.

Refiled for abandoned application Serial No. 707,518, filed April is, 192a. This application fiied lviarch'a,

1927. Serial No. 172,029.

This application is a retiling of my abandoned application filed April 18,1924, Serial No. 707,518.

My invention relates to improvements in musical toys or instruments known as kazoos which comprise essentially a hollow instrument body and a diaphragm adapted to be vibrated to produce musical or other sounds or noises by directing soundsor noises into said instrument body, and also belongs" to that class of kazoo having a straighttapered passage through it with a diaphragm located at the side of this passage and has for an object to provide an amusing and a novel toy, simple in construction and inexpensive. Another object is to provide an instrument whose inletend or mouthpiece is larger than the outlet end and to the mouthpiece of which is fitted a whistle arrangement, while to the outlet end is fitted an internal horn arrangement. whereby, without removing the instrument from the lips, the toy or instrument can be played as a kazoo or a horn, by closing the whistle opening on the top of the instrument with the finger and either humming or blowing as the operator may desire, or changed to a whistle by closing the lower part of the mouthpiece with, the under lip of the operator and blowing.

Another object is to provide in said toy a banjo shaped head with strings and underneath said head a pair of noise making discs or bells slidably mounted on a pivot.

WVith these objects in view, the invention consists in certain features of novelty in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts by which the said objects and certain other objects which will hereinafter appear are attained, the invention being more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings accompanying and form- ,ing a part of this specification, and in which similar characters refer to the same or like parts inthe different views, Figure 1, is a .plan view of my improved musical toy or instrument; Fig. 2, is a side elevation of the same; 3, is a central longitudinal seetional elevation and Fig. 4; is a bottom pla view. g

1 is the body of the instrument having a fiat top 4 and a semi-circular trough 5 forming side and bottom. 4 and dare practically straight longitudinally extending from the inlet or mouthpiece end 2 to a smaller or outlet end 3. The body 1 is formed of a 110 is a rectangular opening through the top'of the-body 1. The forward edge of opening 10 is slightly raised to form alip 11. 13 is .a dome-shaped pocket formed in the holder 12 to hold the diaphragm '8. i j

14 is the top of holder 12 and 15 an 'open, in}: through the top 143 ofholder 12 to form with opening 10, lip 11 and a raised portion 16 of top 14 of holder12, a whistle; t

17, 17 are curved sides of holder 12 and are curved sideways and tapered longitudinally to fit the sides of body 1, and are of such a size that-the holder 12 can be placed on top of the body 1 at its narrower portion near the he'ad 29 and then passed longitudi- I nally of said'body 1 towards the inlet; or

mouthpiece end 2 until; it is firmly held in place at the position which will correctly locate diaphragm 8 over hole 7 and opening 15 over opening lO' and lip 11, at which'position it is locked in place on body 1, by

means of lips 18,18 which are formed on the mouthpiece'end of sides 17, 17

The top 1a of holder '12, the raised portion 16 and the flat top-. of body 1=for m part of the mouthpiece of the instrument the inlet end, and the passage thus formed between body 1 and" raised portion 16 of holder. 12 forms an air inlet passage for the Whistle.

'19 is a vertical lip on'holder' 12 to assist I in moving it to position on body. 1 and to 'form a bridge for the strings 41, 41 and 41. 20, '20, etc. are holes through top of pocket 13 to give the instrument thefproper tone when diaphragm 8 is vibrated. 21 is a horn bodyhaving the same tapered shape as the inside of the end 3 of instrument body 1 to the line 22. The balance 23 of the horn body is straight, tubular in shape and cut olfon a diagonalline-24, making anopening elliptical in shape, the same as reed 25 which is fastened to it at-26. The free end of 25 isbent to give an opening 27. The horn body 21when in place in instrument body 1 as shown in Fig. 3 is fastened by a punch mark 28 on body 1.

The head 29 is shaped like a banjo head, that is circular inshape with a flat top 30 but made of one piece of material, preferably tin. A hole is cut through one side of the rim of said head 29. for the insertion of the small end of the body 1 where it is soldered or fastened in any approved manner. In this way the body 1 of the kazoo forms the neck and 29 the head of astringed instrument similar to a banjo.

Across the center of said head 29 at the 1 bottom or open portion and opposite the top a sounding board as it isthe'same as the sounding portion of a drum, a banjo, a tambourine, etc. r

1 32 and 33 are two discs of metal stamped out with a central portion of the body 38 having a shape like a portion of the surface of a sphere and a fluted edge 39 having a horizontal section as at 40 and loosely mounted on the pin 36 as shown. These discs will be referred to for'conveniencef as bells. i

41, '41, 41 are strings fastened to. and stretched from the corner of the head 29 at the points 31, 31, etc, over the fret 44 in the top 30, through holes 42 in the vertical lip 19, to a cross piece or fret 43 over which they are fastened. The fret;44 is formed in the top 30 in the same manner as the projection 37, that is by being pressed up from the flat surfaceof top 30. The strings 41,

. 41, 41 are stretched taut when the holder 12 is drawn toward the inlet end 2 andfastened there by the lips 18, 18 as previously described.

The operation of the instrument is as follows: By placing the large or-inlet end of the instrument to the lips, covering the whistle opening 15 with the finger and hummlng a time or maklng various sounds, the diaphragm 8 is vibrated and gives forth the well known sound of a kazoo, while banjo from which some tones and a certain amount of noise and action can be obtained when picked with the fingers or when humming for the kazoo, blowing for the horn or the whistle. Vibration is induced in the strings 41, etc. at times when the horn or whistle is blown or the diaphragm of the kazoo vibrated.

The metal discs or bells 32 and 33 are used as a noise maker by sliding up and down on the pivot pin 36 and striking against the strip 34, the sounding board 30 and each other when shaken or when the instrument is struck against any object. In this way the head 29 is similar to that of a tambourine except that a louder tone isobtained from the discs when contactingwith the sounding board 30 than in the ordinary tambourine where the bells are mounted on pins in the rim of the instrument and do not contact with the top or drum part. The bells 32 and 33'and the strings 41, 41 and 41 act and react on each other through the medium of the sounding board 30 and the fret 44. i v

It is understood that various modifications of the form shown may be employed without departing from the spirit. of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a device of the character described, including a tubular body having inlet and outlet ends and forming the neck of an instrument, a horn reed mounted adjacent to said outlet end, a side opening in said body,

a diaphragm over said side opening, asecon'd side openingv in said body, air passage means on the side of said body adjacent said inlet end to form with said second side opening a whistle, an instrument head attached to the outletend of said neck and strings aligned over said head and neck,

whereby said horn, diaphragm, whistle or strings maybe operated independently of the others. y r f 2. In a device of the character described, comprising a tubular body forming a neck and with inlet and outlet ends, a head having a sounding-board top and attached to said neck adjacent its outlet end, strings aligned oversaid head and neck, bells pivotally mounted beneath and adaptedto contact with said sounding-board, a horn reed mounted adjacent to said outlet end, a side side opening, a second side opening in said body, means to form with said second opening awhistle', a holder for said diaphragm and a bridgefor said strings, whereby a kazoo effectis produced when a humming noise is made into the inlet end, a horn efi'ect is produced when air is blown into the inlet end, a whistle effect is produced opening in said body, a diaphragm over said when air is blown into the whistle portion of said inlet end and 'a banjo or tambourine effect is produced when said strings are picked or said bells are operated.

3 In an instrument of the type described, comprising a tubular body forming a neck, a head attached to said neck, strings aligned over said head and neck, an opening in the side of said neck, a diaphragm over said side opening and combined means to hold said diaphragm over said side opening and stretch said strings, said means consisting of a slide with depending walls arranged to move longitudinally of said neck and adapted to be locked in place.

4. In an instrument of the type described, 7

comprising a tubular body'forming a neck and with inlet and outlet ends, a head having a sounding board top and attached to said neck adjacent its outlet end, strings aligned over said head and neck, bells pivotally mounted beneath and adapted to contact with said sounding board, a horn reed mounted adjacent to said outlet end, a side opening in said body, a diaphragm over said side opening, a second opening in said body and means to form with said second opening, a whistle, a holder for said diaphragm and means to hold one end of said strings.

MICHAEL J. MOINTYRE. 

